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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



An Old Wine In 
A New Bottle 



BY 



N. O. RUGGLES u*~ 




BOSTON: THE GORHAM PRESS 

TORONTO: THE COPP CLARK CO., LIM. 



Copyright, 1917, by N. O. Ruggles 



All Rights Reserved 



FEB 28 191? 

MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 
©Ci. A 455736 %.&*%»& 

I ! 






To all men and women everywhere who 
seek a satisfying draught of the elixir of life, 
expressed from life itself in the olden days 
when life ran full, a rare old vintage is here 
presented in a new bottle. Though its flavor 
may not be what had been expected, may none 
turn from it till he know whether the strange- 
ness be of the bottle or of the wine itself. And 
if some there be who find it too red and strong 
to their taste, may none declare it thin or stale 
or flavorless. 



An Old Wine In 
A New Bottle 



TT was a hot July afternoon, and just out- 
side an American college town a Young 
Man Who would be a Philosopher was stroll- 
ing eastward in the direction of a clump of 
woods. He reached the welcoming shadows, 
entered, and sat down upon a rock beside a 
spreading elm tree. And as he sat there, lost 
in thought, behold, he had a vision of the 
Man of Galilee. 

And the Young Man questioned eagerly 
the Man of his Vision, for his soul thirsted 
to be instructed. And he said, Pray tell me, 
7 



8 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

Master, what is the thing that men call be- 
lief? 

And He answered, to believe is to live. Yet 
not so do most men think, who hold that to 
believe is to assent ; wherefore we behold them 
assenting to one thing, but living its oppo- 
site, as who should love their neighbors, yet 
do use them for advantage, with no thought 
of just service in return. The law that men 
live, that is the law that they believe. For 
belief is not of the soul alone, but of the body 
also, even as the soul and body are one. 

And the Young Man questioned further, 
Tell me, I pray thee, Master, how may the 
soul and body be one? 

And He answered, Thou believest in God, 
that it is infinite? 

And the Young Man said, Truly, Master, 
I know that all men assert that there is a 
God, and that He is infinite; nor am I able 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 9 

to dissent from them. 

And He answered, Well sayest thou; it is 
no easy task to brave the traditions of the 
elders. Thou wilt agree with me that, if there 
be a God, it is infinite? 

Truly, Master, answered the Young Man, 
a God that is less than infinite could be no 
God to me. 

Rightly hast thou spoken, said the Vision; 
but dost thou consider what thou meanest by 
infinite? If God be infinite, then can there be 
nothing that is not God, else would the nature 
of God be limited, and finite. 

Truly, Master, have I been taught from my 
youth up that God is spirit, infinite spirit; yet 
what is spirit have I never been able clearly 
to discern. 

And He answered, Again hast thou spoken 
discreetly. For if God be but infinite spirit, 
as men hold, then is it not infinite, but finite, 



10 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

and no true God, as thou sayest. Nor do men 
themselves discern what they mean by spirit, 
save by comparison and by contrast with what 
they call matter, which they vainly imagine 
that they know. For perceiving the things of 
the senses, and their own bodies, which man- 
ifest forces not discerned with the eye nor yet, 
as they suppose, of the things themeslves, they 
dream of an unseen force within things, which 
differs in nature from the things themselves. 
And because they seem to discern the same 
force in all things, manifesting itself in unity 
and yet in diversity of effects, they feign that 
this force dwells in all the universe as the 
unseen breath of life dwells within their bod- 
ies; wherefore they have named it spirit, 
boundless spirit, and this it is that they have 
called God. 

And yet further do thou consider. For 
men say that spirit may control what they 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle it 

call matter, as when their souls bid their bod- 
ies do this or that, or when they feign that 
God in its majesty hath appointed for the 
stars their paths in the heavens. But if spirit 
or any power could thus direct and control the 
things that men call matter, then must it be 
that this same spirit hath a common nature 
with matter ; else could not spirit make known 
its will to matter, nor could matter respond to 
the will of spirit. Truly therefore must mat- 
ter partake of the nature of spirit, and spirit 
of the nature of matter, and there can be no 
distinction or separation between them. Even 
so, men say today that matter is composed of 
atoms, and atoms of corpuscles in great activity 
of movement; and so must they say in time 
that corpuscles are themselves composite; but 
never can they separate the matter of the last 
elements from the force that is within them, 
for both are one. Therefore, if God be spirit, 



12 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

so also is it matter ; nor can it be infinite, save 
by being both at once. God is all that is ; and 
all that is, is God. Thou art of God, body and 
soul, even as also, in lesser fashion, thou art of 
the earth and stars and ethereal spaces. 

But, Master, answered the Young Man, if I 
believe as thou sayest, then am I what men call 
a pantheist, a man perverse of soul. 

Nay, what carest thou for what men may 
say? The names that men give to things do 
not make the things; but the nature of the 
things, as they touch the soul of man this way 
or that, makes him give to them names signi- 
fying the aspect of them that is discerned, 
whether truly, or untruly, and in prejudice. 
Even so it is that men call themselves body and 
soul, falling short of a true knowledge of both, 
which are one thing discerned under different 
aspects. And thus truly is every name that 
may be framed by the lips of man a mark of 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 1 3 

prejudice; nor may it ever be otherwise, see- 
ing that no things are seen in all their nature, 
or ever shall be, inasmuch as they themselves 
are ever changing. For God is not dead, but 
liveth ever; neither is it the same today as yes- 
terday, save in the laws of its life. Its life is 
from everlasting even unto everlasting, ever 
striving by the laws of its nature for the per- 
fection of its creation, albeit the perfection of 
today will be the imperfection of tomorrow. 

Wherefore to be less than a pantheist is to 
belittle the nature of God, and more than a 
pantheist can no man be in his thought of 
God. Yet men's thoughts of the greatness of 
God vary, because not all put forth the same 
power to comprehend it. If men tolerate not 
a pantheist, as thou sayest, then is it because 
the aspect of a pantheist that they discern 
threatens some form of thought that they have 
set up for themselves, and which they are loath 



14 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

to change, refusing to obey the will of God to 
change, which is within them. 

But, Master, answered the Young Man, if 
God be subject to law, then how may it be in- 
finite? 

Again hast thou spoken discreetly, said the 
Vision. And again do thou consider. For who 
but God brought forth these laws, and to what 
end did it bring them forth out of its own na- 
ture and subject itself to them, save that it 
might serve its own infinite ends? Know 
that God's infinity depends upon the laws of 
its nature. Without them its nature would 
be broken up into an infinity of finitudes, nor 
ever could there have been a God or uni- 
verse, which are one, in the beginning. 

Know therefore that God is infinite, the only 
existence, and that what men call matter and 
spirit is neither matter nor spirit, after their 
manner of thinking, but one essence discerned 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 15 

under different aspects; neither shall they ever 
know completely the infinite existence which is 
God, because it is infinite, and because it 
is ever changing. 

And this also would I have thee know for 
thy better unfolding, that with God all things 
are possible, — even by law, the law that is of 
the inner nature of God. Yet let not thy heart 
be troubled by this, that it is the nature of God 
to work by unchanging law. For men have 
not yet sounded the depths of the divine law, 
to avail themselves of it for increase of health, 
and wisdom, and power; nor ever will they, 
because the infinite nature of God is evermore 
unfolding into new forms and perfections 
within man's own nature and without. Yet 
with man's unfolding in God, so does his ca- 
pacity for wisdom and obedience increase ; nor 
ever hath he put forth all the might that he 
hath to do the will of God that is within him. 



1 6 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

For if God be infinite, and it's power infinite, 
then can man, that is of God, do all things, 
even all that he can comprehend by the laws of 
God to desire; and so also must his power to 
comprehend increase unto even greater achieve- 
ment. 

Yea, Master, cried the Young Man, I dis- 
cern as through a glass darkly the message of 
thy words. Tell me, I pray, how I may more 
fully discern and comprehend. 

And He said, Know then, first of all, that 
thou art of God, the infinite. As man may 
not do the things that pertain to man, save 
as he knows himself a man, and the powers that 
are of man, so also may he not do greater things 
until he know that he is more than man, as men 
interpret man. 

What then, Master, must I renounce of the 
ways of my present life that I may live the 
perfect will of God? For from my youth up 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 17 

have I been taught that the way of God is the 
path of renunciation; and I would fain show 
forth more fully in my life the power to 
achieve. 

Nay, my brother, not so ; for the nature of 
God is growth, not a shrinking away. But in 
the moments of thy leisure fill thy soul full with 
thoughts of the infinite goodness and love and 
power of God; and thus knowing with all thy 
soul thy oneness with the infinite God, go forth 
to do the deeds of thy daily quest with the 
might of unconquerable hope. 

Know first with all thy might the infinity 
of God, which is thine own — for if God be in- 
finite, then canst thou not be shut outside its 
nature; thus shall the things of thy trans- 
figured desire be added unto thee, even as thou 
live the law of power unto achievement; and 
thus also the things that, as men say, should be 
renounced will fall from thee as chaff from the 



1 8 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

winnowed wheat. Behold, all things are good, 
yet not in all ways; even as food is not good 
for man beyond the needs of his nature; nor 
are all things good for the growth of man, 
howbeit they may be good for other things. 
Feed thy soul upon the things that make for 
growth; so shalt thou care well for thy body 
and show forth in thy life belief in the infinite 
power of God. To believe is to live, and to 
live is to believe; for the body and soul are 
one, even as God is one. 

And the Young Man answered and said, 
Great things are these which thou hast spoken. 
Wherefore didst thou not teach in Galilee this 
infinity of God ? 

And He said, I spake to the understanding 
that men had. Not yet could the men of that 
day comprehend what thou hast heard. For 
even as men could not conceive in their souls 
that there was but one God for all the nations 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 19 

of earth, until each nation had learned of the 
other and discerned by the intercourse of a 
common life the ties of a common brotherhood ; 
even so in that day could men not comprehend 
what thou hast heard, because of the vastness 
of the thought. For their minds were simple ; 
and so too was mine own. And not yet could 
these greater things of God be known and told, 
that men might understand, till they had made 
them telescopes and microscopes and other con- 
trivances wherewith they have searched the im- 
mensities and infinitesimals of heaven and oi 
earth. These things not God itself knew 
then in the days of Galilee, because it had not 
yet conceived of them through the minds of 
men. By them alone have men become able, 
however dimly, to discern the infinity of God. 
And thus only have men been able to discern 
that there can be but one God, however so 
many worlds there may be, unseen to the men 



20 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

of this earth. 

And the Young Man lifted his eyes eagerly 
and inquired yet again : Men tell me, Master, 
that thou wast divine with a divinity not of 
men when thou didst walk the earth in Gali- 
lee. Pray tell me how thou wast divine that 
men are not. 

But lo, his vision had departed, and he sat 
alone; and the sun was sinking low within a 
bank of red and gold. 

And the Young Man Who would be a 
Philosopher arose from the rock beside the elm 
tree and turned his footsteps westward towards 
the town. A new vision had opened before 
him, of heaven and of earth; his being was 
filled with a new sense of inner power, and 
his soul was content. 



II 



"D UT that night, as the Young Man sat 
in his room, when the first glow of his 
vision had passed away so that he could give 
thought to the logic of the vision, fear came 
upon him and he was filled with grief. For 
many a cherished notion deeply ingrained by 
long training and hedged about by fearful 
sanctions appeared now no more substantial 
than bubbles. It seemed that the house of his 
faith had been but a house of cards. The 
ground whereon his very life with all its hopes 
had seemed to depend he now felt to be with- 
drawn from beneath him. He felt himself to 
be a solitary soul, suspended by an unseen force 
in the midst of the inter-stellar spaces, with no 
sight or hope of anything to grasp. A drown- 
3! 



22 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

ing man feels at least the buoyant resistance 
of the waters about him, and knows that there 
is ground beneath him, and a near end to his 
struggles; but a soul without hope or faith 
suffers a living death, immersed in an impal- 
pable medium that knows no bounds. Thus it 
was with the Young Man as he reached out, 
only to find one after another of his long 
cherished hopes melting away into thin air. For 
his vision had been most persuasive and com- 
pelling. It seemed that he had talked with the 
very Christ of his early faith. And thus the 
heights of thought that he had just scaled un- 
der that revered leadership seemed to him now 
not pinnacles of truth and holiness, but deep 
sloughs of wicked blasphemy and utter dam- 
nation. And yet he found it impossible to 
take the backward track and make as if he 
had never gained the ascent. 

And now a further trouble beset him. For 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 23 

his vision had cut him off from all his former 
counsellors. They would deem his vision but 
a silly dream, born of thoughts that should 
have no place within a human soul ; and they 
would turn from him as from a thing ac- 
cursed, or they would even hold that he was 
mad and turn upon him glances of uncompre- 
hending pity, which would be more bitter than 
curses to endure. Little had he dreamed when 
he embarked upon the way of philosophy that 
he would thus be led aside from the course 
appointed by his Gamaliels and left to fare by 
himself alone. Still less did he dream that 
there were increasing thousands to whom even 
so fragmentary a vision as he had had would 
be as manna to starving pilgrims in a barren 
land. 

Yet, on the other hand, the memory of his 
vision gripped him with unescapable convic- 
tion. As he surveyed again and again the for- 



24 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

bidden ground of his thought, so that its nov- 
elty wore away, one peak emerged more and 
more clear above the rest and, spreading out 
on every side, became an illimitable continent. 
It rose to meet him there in his agony of des- 
pair, till he felt once more beneath him the 
touch of solid ground. And as he planted his 
feet anew upon ground he had ever sought, 
such ground as in childish faith he had always 
dreamed he had more or less securely beneath 
him, he felt the peace of a great calm. His 
former contentment of spirit returned, in- 
creased by a sense of unwonted buoyancy and 
hope. Here could he find assurance and en- 
couragement for every task that life might im- 
pose upon him. Nay, he could now seek out 
new tasks and new responsibilities, drawing 
upon a source of strength and direction which 
he had ever sought, often imagined he pos- 
sessed, but never before had truly found. Here 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 25 

would he stand though the heavens fell, as- 
sured that, however far his thought might lead 
him from the beaten path which men called 
truth, the tower of his faith was reared upon 
an impregnable rock. Though the thoughts of 
his finite mind might stray from the path of 
real truth amid the infinite array of changing 
facts about him, yet he possessed an unquench- 
able desire to know and to live the truth, which 
was to do the divine will within him, and this 
must ever bring him back to the source of truth 
itself. Though he might for a time be led astray 
amid the seeming disparate facts of his world, 
yet he was nevertheless right in the most car- 
dinal matter of faith, a thing upon which men 
set more store than upon life itself. And how- 
ever men might disagree with him and seek to 
disparage him, he was himself seeking to do 
even as much or more than they for what they 
termed "the kingdom of God," whatever of 



26 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

truth might be embodied in that phrase. For 
he had long taken seriously the life of the Gali- 
lean, seeking to know its mainsprings, that he 
might give them full scope for action in his 
own life. 

And so, as he pondered with increasing 
clearness what the Vision had said about the 
infinity of God, and how it taught him to put 
to the test the infinite power of God, he re- 
solved to grasp the message in all the fulness 
that he could. A multitude of new questions 
crowded in upon his mind for consideration 
and answer; but the hour was late, and this 
one thing he was determined to put before all 
else. 

When he retired for the night he soon fell 
asleep, repeating phrases of thought embodying 
the truth that he was seeking to grasp ; and he 
slept through the night as he had never slept 
before. 



Ill 



' I ' HE Young Man awoke the next morning 
with a sense of unknown buoyancy and 
with a strange eagerness to put his hands to the 
tasks of the new day. And throughout the 
day, as often as opportunity was afforded, he 
gave his attention to trying to comprehend and 
to fill his whole being with a sense of the 
infinity of God for health and wisdom and 
power of achievement. 

And thus he continued day after day, build- 
ing up as it were a new soul within him, and 
eager for the time to come when he should 
have leisure to go once more to the place of his 
vision. For he felt that there he should be 
more congenially disposed to review his former 
experience and to give undivided attention to 
27 



28 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

the new questions that were taking form in 
his mind. And besides, he cherished a pleas- 
ing hope that the Man of his Vision might 
again come to him there; and on this ac- 
count he refrained from making the visit until 
his problems should become more clearly de- 
fined. 

Meanwhile he discerned that his tasks were 
accomplished with lessened effort, and that his 
days contained more leisure for the things that 
he desired apart from his appointed tasks. He 
seemed able in a measure to stem the tide of 
time itself. He was learning what it was to 
run and not be weary, to toil and faint not, 
as men of all times have longed to do. Yet he 
found nothing miraculously performed for 
him. All his work lay upon him for perform- 
ance as it had before; but he accomplished it 
with lessened friction, w T ith greater willing- 
ness, hopefulness and assurance. And he fin- 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 29 

ished each task with an increased sense of sat- 
isfaction for work well done, which was fully 
justified by the results. He was on better 
terms with himself and all the world. 

Thus the days passed, and at last the wished- 
for time was near at hand. Night had come, 
and on the morrow he would go once more 
to the wood beyond the town. And in eager 
anticipation of the hour of his vision, he seated 
himself in his room to take stock of the prob- 
lems he had yet to be solved, — to search out 
the peaks that lay above him, luring him on to 
further adventure and discovery. 

And as he sat there, rapt in deep meditation, 
lo, the Man of his Vision appeared before him, 
in all respects as he had seemed that afternoon 
in the wood. 

Then as he gazed upon the Vision, the 
Young Man asked: Pray tell me, Master; if 
what thou saidst that other day be true, then 



30 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

how may the soul live beyond the grave, as 
thou didst teach in Galilee? 

And He said, Nay, my brother; not that 
did I teach in Galilee. I sought to lead the 
race of mankind to strive through all its gen- 
erations for immortal life upon earth, even as 
the prophets of old had taught concerning Is- 
rael alone. And seeking to teach men how 
they ought to live together to that end, I set 
before them the rewards and joys of the pres- 
ent life, if they would but do the will of 
God unto eternal life upon earth, which was 
within them. 

But the men of my day could not compre- 
hend the words of my teaching, but they would 
turn this about and seek alone after the re- 
wards, which they would fain believe were in 
store for them after death. For they sought 
above all things else to believe that men lived 
again after death, hoping that the meagerness 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 31 

of their present life might be recompensed with 
strange joys past telling beyond the grave. Yet 
could they not be blamed; because the condi- 
tion of their life was hard and their minds 
were simple. Neither could they believe that 
their race could live long and endure the bur- 
dens that were placed upon them; and in the 
days when the words and deeds of my life were 
written was it even more hard for them. 

But verily could not the soul live beyond the 
grave, seeing that body and soul are one ; and 
we know that the body dieth, as generation giv- 
eth place to generation. Yet the deeds that 
men do and the words of their mouths, wheth- 
er for good or for evil, live after them, an 
ever present help or hindrance to the children 
of men for doing the will of God that is with- 
in them, which is to make their race live with- 
out end upon the earth. 

And the Young Man asked further: Pray 



32 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

tell me, Master; if God be all, and that all be 
good, then how may there be evil in the lives 
of men? 

And He said, Well dost thou ask concerning 
what men call evil; for if there be in truth 
evil, then is not God infinite, nor wholly good, 
but even at war within itself. 

Thou wottest that God worketh ever by the 
laws of its nature? 

And the Young Man said, Thus didst thou 
say that other day, my Master, and I per- 
ceive that thy words are true. For truly is 
there no rest in the things of God. 

And He answered and said, Thou sayest 
well, that there is no rest in the things of God. 
And herein mayest thou perceive that God 
worketh ever by the laws of its inner nature. 
For it seeketh ever by its working to build up 
more perfect forms of things. Yet as the more 
perfect come into being must the lesser give 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 33 

place to them; and so must their forms be 
destroyed, lest they cumber the earth, and that 
their substance may be builded into yet higher 
forms. And therefore it is that the men of 
each generation, suffering divers ills of body 
and soul and seeing themselves pass by death 
unto the grave, maintain that there is evil in 
the world. 

Yet is the travail of one generation for a 
blessing to the next, inasmuch as men thereby 
learn and improve their manner of living, put- 
ting aside all needless travails from their lives, 
and doing the things that they find needful. 
And far more of suffering do they know than 
is needful, because they consent unto the good 
without believing and through selfishness bring 
upon their neighbors that which they perceive 
is not meet for them to endure. Behold, toil is 
good for all men, seeing that it is a fulfilling 
of the laws of God. Yet there be toil that is 



34 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

not needful, not undertaken for the fulfillment 
of the laws of God unto the eternal life of the 
race of men, but for the glory of the proud 
and mighty. This toil also may men remove 
from their lives. But death can they never 
set aside, seeing that it is needful, removing 
men from life when their nature can no longer 
obey the law of God for the upbuilding of 
their own lives and of the race. For thus it is 
that death cometh into the world of living 
things, that generation may succeed unto gen- 
eration to the end that the race of men and of 
all living things may grow in perfection even 
according as they obey the law of God for 
achievement, wherein God is most glorified. 
For we see as it were two mighty laws of 
God in all things, one that buildeth up and 
one that teareth down; and even so it is that 
one seemeth to be for the upbuilding of the 
races of things unto eternal life upon earth, 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 35 

and one for the destruction thereof. And this 
it is to sin, whether in knowledge or in ignor- 
ance, — to obey the downward rather than the 
upward law, both for thine own life and for 
the race. And greater sin it is to obey the 
downward law of the race than of thy sole 
self — if this be possible, — even as the race is 
more than the sole self of man. And if thou 
obey the downward law within thee rather 
than the upward, then w r ill the laws of God 
within thee withhold from thee the power of 
achievement and cut thee off by death from 
among living men, both thee and thy poster- 
ity, before thy time. For the sins of the fath- 
ers are visited upon their children, even unto 
the third and fourth generation. And if thou 
obey the downward law, so that thou and 
thy line be not able to obey the upward law 
within thine inner nature, then will God by 
ITS laws cut off thee and thy line from the 



36 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

face of the earth as unprofitable members; 
and it will give thy place to others. And if 
the words of thy mouth and the deeds of thy 
hands be for the greater life of the race, then 
shall they live after thee, a blessing to all 
men after. But if they be evil, so shall they 
by the downward law live in the lives of 
posterity for their destruction, both thine own 
posterity and all other men's whithersoever 
they reach. For the upward law is the law 
of power unto achievement for the well-faring 
of men, which bringeth joy and happiness; and 
the downward law but maketh way for the 
things they obey in their nature the upward 
law. 

And so is death the natural end of man, ap- 
pointed from the beginning for all living 
things, even though they sin not at all. Be- 
hold the lilies of the field, which put forth 
all their toil that their race may live and not 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 37 

die, and in that toil are most fair. They obey 
the upward law, yet die unto themselves with- 
out sin. And men, if they have lived long 
and well upon the earth, not obeying the down- 
ward law, to them doth death come as a sweet 
end of living and not as a dreadful thing. Nor 
do they have need of a hope beyond the grave, 
save that it may be well for the children of 
men that are left after them. 

Wherefore are all the laws of God good 
and not evil, and meet for the race of men and 
all living creatures, even according as they 
obey in their inner nature the upward law of 
their race and strive together in harmony for 
the glory of God; for all are of one essence 
and all are brethren in God. Then only, 
therefore, doth evil appear in the lives of men, 
when they themselves through pride, or greed, 
or wantonness, or ignorance obey not the up- 
ward law of God that is within them ; and be- 



38 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

hold, the greatest of these is ignorance, see- 
ing that it is the root of all the others. 

When He had ended the Young Man said, 
Truly, Master, are thy words plain beyond 
telling. No need hast thou to speak in para- 
bles, as thou didst in days of old. And yet one 
further thing would I ask of thee, and do thou 
deny me not. Tell me, I pray thee, what am 
I to think concerning the Scriptures? 

And looking upon him with infinite love, 
He said, What thinkest thou thyself? 

And the Young Man, gaining courage, said, 
Truly, Master, all the days of my life have 
men held them to be true, and with great 
frenzy of soul have they taught this to me, 
in so much that I feared to dissent. For much 
have I read and pondered them and the things 
that men have written of them, seeking to 
know and to believe the truth ; but it seemed 
to me that not all the marvelous things to be 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 39 

found there could be true. Yet when I 
dared open my mouth to question the elders 
concerning these things, would they have it 
that all was true ; and they would declare that 
what seemed past belief was nevertheless true 
in spiritual ways, howsoever unbelievable it 
might appear to mortal sense. For, they said, 
with God are all things possible; but because 
God is spirit, so doth He work in spiritual 
ways, and only of them that approach Him in 
spirit may His ways be clearly discerned. 

Yea, He said, truly do I know that they thus 
teach the youth of earth. And thus speak they 
because of fear for the things that they long 
to believe; for so have they been taught by 
their fathers before them. And if the words 
of their teaching be proved to be untrue, then 
also will men cease from doing them honor. 
But truly, if God be of one essence, then can 
nothing be true in spirit that is not also true 



40 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

in all ways whatsoever. 

And for the wonders that were ascribed to 
God in the days of old, in those days had God 
not yet wrought itself into such perfect in- 
telligence through the souls of men; where- 
fore could it not have done so great wonders 
then as today. But all those wonders did men 
of old ascribe to it because of what they would 
fain have had it to perform, to the end that 
the forms of their thought and the words of 
their mouths might be justified and accepted of 
men as true. But verily is it a greater thing to 
save a thousand men from leprosy than to have 
healed one leper; and greater is it to have 
saved but two infants from blindness than to 
have healed one and let the other live in inner 
darkness. For so shall the race of men of a 
greater certainty assure itself of eternal life 
upon the earth. 

Dost thou mean to tell me, Master, that 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 41 

thou didst not heal the sick in Galilee ? 

Nay, verily, did I heal no man. But I 
taught men to heal themselves, even as many 
as possessed within them the understanding 
and the power to desire and to believe. Yea, 
men that were as dead men in body and soul 
did I make to desire healing with unquench- 
able desire of unclouded discernment, so that 
they believed and lived. 

But because of the things that I taught men 
to desire and to achieve for themselves did they 
tell marvelous tales of me in the after days 
concerning things which never befell. For 
verily many of the tales that they told were 
of what they would fain have had to be true, 
and not of the things that were. For the men 
of those days were of simple understanding, 
nor could many desire the things that I sought 
to teach, because they could not comprehend 
them. Howbeit they did what they could, nor 



42 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

was their toil wholly in vain. But the things 
that men wrote of me did they not write for 
long after that day of the cross ; and they wrote 
of the things that they wished to be true more 
than they did of the things that were. 

And the Young Man asked again, If all 
these things be true,, Master, I would fain 
know to what end thou didst found thy church 
among men. 

And He said, Nay, my brother, no church 
did I found after the manner that men now 
call the church. But I went up and down 
the land seeking to teach all men the way of 
life upon earth, that they might more perfectly 
live the upward law of God that was within 
them. And many heard gladly the words that 
I spake. And of them that heard and con- 
sented, some followed me and became my dis- 
ciples, seeking to be instructed in the ways of 
God, that they might believe and live. And 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 43 

these I sought to teach, even all that might be 
able to comprehend, to the end that they also 
might go forth to teach the things that I 
taught. For no one man could go through all 
the lands to teach all the multitudes of men 
that abode in the earth ; and there were many 
lands and peoples that I knew not yet of. And 
moreover there was need that yet other gen- 
erations should know the new knowledge con- 
cerning the ways of God that I sought to 
teach. 

But the minds of the men were simple, and 
they sought also to believe other things than 
the things that I taught. And not yet was 
my work finished when I passed from them 
by the cross. So that they sought by themselves 
alone, with their poor knowledge, to go for- 
ward with the work that I had begun. And 
thus it was that they, together with others 
whom they taught, went forth with great zeal 



44 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

to teach in other lands, founding what men 
call churches as they went ; and even so would 
I have wished them to do when my teaching 
of them should have been perfected. 

But because their learning concerning the 
ways of God was imperfect did grievous dis- 
sensions arise among them and the churches 
that they founded, and men cared more for 
the arguments and the doctrines to which they 
assented than for the manner of life that they 
lived. Yea, they gave heed and consented to 
doctrines that men could not live, because they 
did not conform to the laws of God that 
wrought within the world and within their 
own lives. 

And even so do men today ; so that there is 
not one, but many churches ; and the churches 
care more for the doctrines that they teach, and 
that they themselves may live and be known of 
posterity, than that the race of men may live 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 45 

the upward law of God and not perish from 
the earth. For they would have their doctrines 
and not the laws of God, which I sought to 
teach, to rule in the lives of men, seeking with 
great zeal to ascribe to me as author all the 
divers doctrines that they teach. And thus 
with much bickering do the churches trouble 
themselves and the minds of needful men and 
women concerning doctrines that have no place 
in the heavens or in the earth. For they seek 
to teach divers doctrines concerning a life be- 
yond the grave, which cannot be, seeing that 
soul and body are one. Divers doctrines also 
do they teach concerning the nature of God, 
— not one possible, because they know not that 
what they call matter and spirit are one es- 
sence, which is neither matter nor spirit, as 
men conceive of them. For never can men 
perceive the true nature of God, because God 
is infinite and because the true nature of its 



46 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

essence is far removed from their senses. Yet 
can they perceive with greater clearness of 
comprehension from generation to generation 
the manner of its laws and how they work; 
and thus may they be able to live with ever 
greater perfection the laws of God that they 
discern within themselves for increase of health 
and wisdom and power of achievement. But 
not so do the churches teach today; and they 
give more thought to justifying themselves for 
these divers doctrines and to winning all men to 
embrace them than they do to living the laws 
of God and thereby showing by their example 
the excellent fruits of the upward law. Yet 
are they not to be blamed, for they have not 
yet learned the upward law, to follow it. And 
yet would I have them give more heed to the 
race of men, for which I wrought, than to the 
doctrines that they teach and whereby they ig- 
norantly think that they stand. 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 47 

For in truth the churches do not stand upon 
the doctrines that they teach, but upon the 
unfailing needs of men. For all men at times 
grow weary and lose heart and need to have 
their faith renewed, that they may go forth 
with new hope to the toils of life. And to 
this end do they need instruction concerning 
the ways of God, that they may know and give 
heed to the laws of God within them, whereby 
they may find healing for every ill and strength 
for every toil. 

And so must every generation of men, world 
without end, be instructed concerning the 
ways of God and have its faith kept bright that 
the race faint not nor perish from the earth. 
So that evermore shall the race of men have 
need of the church as its servant, but not as 
a master, seeing that God is master of all and 
all are members one of another and of God. 
Even so is it that the kingdom of God is not 



48 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

to be found within the church, nor yet with- 
out it; neither is it to be found beyond the 
grave. But the kingdom of God is within you, 
as I said aforetime. It is there in every man's 
heart that obeyeth in his inner nature the up- 
ward law of God unto the eternal life of the 
race. So must men be taught to believe and to 
live, which are one, even as I said at the be- 
ginning, that day in the wood. Such is the 
work of the church, and such the need that 
brought it into the world. 

Then, as the Vision ended and seemed turn- 
ing to depart, the Young Man stretched forth 
his hands with a great yearning to ask again 
concerning His divinity; but or ever his ques- 
tion was framed the Vision had departed. And 
as he sat there, alone and perplexed, through 
the open window of his room came the pealing 
of the bell striking the hour of twelve. 

But though the hour was late, the Young 



An Old Wine in a New Bottle 49 

Man kept his place; and as he pondered the 
things that he had seen and heard, a new light 
dawned upon his soul. 

For he perceived that even as all things are 
God and of God, and hence divine in their na- 
ture and their ends, so also was the Galilean 
divine in his nature and his end, which was to 
show men the way of life, by word and by ex- 
ample. And thus also was he equally divine 
with his Master, in so far as he accepted the 
responsibility that his new knowledge laid 
upon him. 

Yet how should he dare take up that bur- 
den and go forth before men to teach the new 
faith that he had learned? For he would be 
a philosopher, and so must teach as well as 
toil. Here was he with a new source of 
strength for all mankind, and yet mankind 
would refuse him room to make it known. 
Nay, that strength itself and the need of its 



50 An Old Wine in a New Bottle 

knowledge in the hearts of men should make 
him room. His philosophy should be his life, 
and his life should be his philosophy. He had 
found a faith born of life itself, which he 
could live as well as think. 

He had chanced upon a rare old vintage 
that the servants had mis-labeled, so that it 
had long been overlooked; he would bottle it 
afresh, and he would share it with all man- 
kind, even as the Master had intended from 
the beginning. 

And thus the Young Man who would be ?. 
Philosopher faced the new day with a new 
faith and a new resolve. And he had no need 
to visit the place of his vision by the elm in 
the wood beyond the town. 



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